Kenya is home to nearly two million orphans, many orphaned because of the tragic HIV/AIDS epidemic. Malnutrition and malaria plague hundreds of thousands of children, and one million primary-school aged kids are not in school at all. Extreme poverty means that more than 25% of Kenyan children work in forced labor, often in dangerous situations. These realities are heartbreaking, and we want to bring the hope of the Gospel to each child.
Kids Alive is currently serving more than 400 precious children. Half of those are in residential care, living in family-style homes with loving house parents. We also reach out to community kids in many ways, through education, nutritious meals, medical care, and sharing the love of Christ. And our Keeping Families Together program is always working to strengthen families and communities.
The academic growth among our children has been exciting to watch. This year, 46 students graduated into either high school or vocational colleges, and 35 finished high school and entered college.
We offered these graduates transition training, equipping them to live successfully outside our direct care and support. And we saw two alumni graduate from college, one with a mechanical engineering degree and one with a diploma in social work. God is at work in our students in Kenya.
Just a few years ago, more than half of the kids in our care didn’t know who or where their relatives were. We’ve been able to reduce that to just 10 students, and our goal is for the number to soon be zero. We’re also working to fulfill new and often stressful education requirements from the Kenyan government, including retraining all teachers, purchasing expensive IT equipment, and building required facilities. Though there is still work to be done, we remain committed to bringing hope into the life of each Kenyan child we encounter. As we care for their physical, emotional, and educational needs, we will also share with each one how much Jesus loves them.
Located near Mt. Kenya, Kids Alive Boys’ Home provides residential care to almost 70 boys between the ages of 4 and 18. In three separate houses, they experience a loving, stable home environment. Each boy also attends a local school and most of them graduate from high school.
Our Mitaboni Home has 60 boys and girls, ranging in age from 5 to 18, who have found a safe place to live where they are loved and accepted. Most of them are orphans who came from extreme poverty and often didn’t receive even one meal a day before coming to Kids Alive.
Now almost 12 years old, Hall Mead School offers a quality, Christ centered education to 373 at-risk children. While some of them are in residential care at Karundas Home, the majority are from the surrounding communities, where many children work in dangerous manual labor just to survive.
In 2004, our home was opened to serve the poor and vulnerable children in the community. Because of the HIV/AIDS crisis, there are many orphaned or abandoned children struggling to survive, and many have suffered traumatic mistreatment as well.
Karundas Children’s Home, located about three hours north of the capital city of Nairobi, is a 50-acre farm where more than 40 children between the ages of 4 and 18 live and thrive. In four separate houses, we provide loving care for these children who desperately need a stable home.
Our students come from the poorest communities and would otherwise not have access to a solid education. Not only do we offer them a quality education including English, computers, and art, but our after school program provides lunch, tutoring, and extracurricular activities. We are thankful that more than 80% of the students who enter our program graduate from high school, and each one hears daily about the hope found in Jesus.
